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THE ULSTER EEVIVAL 



OF 



THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 



THE 



OF THE 



AN 



INSTRUCTIVE CHAPTER IN THE EARLY HISTORY 



PEESBYTEEIANISM IK IEELAND. 



BY THE 



EEV. MATTHEW KERE, 

DEOMORE WEST. ' 



BELFAST : 

C. AITCHtSON, 9, HIGH STREET. 
1859. 




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TO 

THE LORD'S REMEMBRANCERS 

% 

IN OTJR ZION, 

WHOSE EARNEST PRAYERS 
FOR A TIME OF REFRESHING GO UP TO GOD, 



OF 

THE LORD'S REVIVING- WORK 

IS DEDICATED, 



PREFACE. 



IT may be necessary to state how I came to think of 
publishing this narrative. Having recently to deliver 
a lecture on "The Ulster Eevival of the 17th Century," 
the necessary preparation brought the subject fully 
before me. The more I read of the Eevival, the greater 
the interest that gathered around it. Then it struck 
me that a short account of this remarkable work of 
grace might stir up some to desire such another season 
of revival. It is to Reid's History of the Presbyterian 
Church in Ireland I am mainly indebted for the 
materials out of which this, the most instructive chap- 
ter in the history of our Zion, has been compiled. 
That work is too large and expensive to be generally 
read to the many it is altogether inaccessible. In the 
hope of bringing the subject of the Eevival before the 
minds of some who have not access to the History, and 
with the desire of stimulating the people of God 
throughout our Church, these pages have been written. 

M. K. 

THE MANSE, DKOMOEE WEST, 
April, 1859. 



THE KEYIYAL IN ULSTER. 



OHAPTEK I. 

WHAT A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS. 

" He shall come down, like showers 

Upon the fruitful earth, 
And love, joy, hope, like flowers, 
Spring in his path to hirth." 

WHAT is a revival ? It is midsummer, and no 
rain has fallen for weeks. The bottled clouds 
refuse to yield one drop of moisture, and all 
nature is sore athirst. Down in the meadows 
the springs are dried up, and the grass is brown 
and shrivelled. Here and there the corn fields 
are red as they were in April, for the green 
blade has been burned up. Along the wayside 
the hedgerows are covered with a dense coat of 
dust. The leaves are drooping, the flowers are 
dying, the little birds have ceased tbeir song. 
And as the husbandman surveys his parched 



10 THE ULSTER REVIVAL. 

fields, and looks up to the brazen sky, his heart 
sinks within him. But, in His own good time, 
God hears the cry of universal nature, and sends 
down the rain. For hours it has fallen copiously, 
and now the clouds have cleared away, and the 
sun is shining again. What a change S And how 
suddenly ! All nature is revived. Once more 
the birds are singing. No longer leaves or 
flowers are drooping, unless under the load of 
the rain drops. The fields and hedgerows are 
green again, for " God has visited the earth and 
watered it ; He has greatly enriched it with the 
river of God which is full of water." 

This is a -picture of a revival in the Church of 
God. When rain from heaven is withheld, the 
fields of Zion languish; but when the Spirit 
descends as "rain upon the mown grass and as 
showers that water the earth," even " The 
wilderness and the solitary place are made glad, 
and the desert rejoices and blossoms as the 
rose." Then, " In the wilderness waters, break 
out, and streams in the desert; and the parched 
ground becomes a pool, and the thirsty land 
springs of water." Then sinners are converted 
and saints are quickened. The Bible is prayer- 



WHAT A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS. 11 

fully read in the closet, and statedly read in the 
family. The sanctuary is thronged with eager 
worshippers, and a mighty power accompanies 
the preaching of the Word ; for earnest prayer 
goes up to God, and ministers preach with the 
" Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." Then 
the Church realises the beautiful imagery of the 
Song of Songs, " The winter is past, the rain is 
over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; 
the time of the singing of birds is come, and the 
voice of the turtle is heard in. our land ; the fig 
tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines 
with the tender grapes give a good smell." 

But why occupy time in defining what a 
revival is ? Has not the wondrous work going 
on in America made the subject familiar to 
every one ? Who has not heard of the remark- 
able spirit of prayer that has been poured out 
upon all the evangelical churches, in the Western 
World ? Whose heart has not leaped for joy at 
the report of those crowded meetings for prayer 
in New York and Philadelphia, at midday, at- 
tended by business men, willing to give up the 
busiest hour of the day for a season of com- 
munion with God? All have heard of the mar- 



12 THE ULSTER REVIVAL. 

vels -which the Lord's right arm hath wrought 
among our American brethren of the goings of 
His glorious chariot in its triumphal marches 
over that great land. None needs to be told 
what a revival of religion is. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE PREPARATORY WORK. 

" I -will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all 
their herbs ; and I -will make the rivers islands, and I -will 
dry up the pools. And I will bring the blind by a way 
that they knew not ; I will lead them in paths that they 
have not known. I will make darkness light before them, 
and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto 
them and not forsake them." ISAIAH xlii. 15, 16. 

THE Apostle has said that there are " diversities 
of gifts, but the same Spirit ; and differences of 
administrations, but the same Lord; and diversi- 
ties of operations, but the same God which worketh 
all in all." This appears in the different revivals 
with which the Church has, from time to time, 
been visited. The preparatory work is different 
in all. So, 'too, are the agencies employed. 
But the work in every case, so far as it is genu- 
ine, is wrought by that " one and the selfsame 
Spirit, who divideth to every man severally as 
He will." The Ulster revival has features pecu- 
liar to itself, as well in its preparatory work as 
in its full development. That we may see how 



14 THE ULSTER REVIVAL. 

God prepared the way for this work, it will be 
necessary to glance at the state of things ante- . 
cedent to the revival, as connected, not with 
Ireland alone, but also with Scotland and 
England. 

Look, first, at Ireland. The Reformation 
was a failure in Ireland. Various causes contri- 
buted to this. , There had been no previous 
circulation of the Scriptures as in the sister 
countries; so that when Archbishop Brown was 
sent over by Henry VIII. to establish the re- 
formed doctrines in the kingdom, he found the 
people wholly unprepared to receive .them. The 
Romish faith was abolished by Acts of Parlia- 
ment, but no efforts were made to instruct the 
people in the truth. English clergymen, 
against whom the people were strongly preju- 
diced, were put into the parish churches. The 
Irish tongue was then almost universally spoken 
by the people, and ought to have been employed 
in the service of the sanctuary. Instead of 
this, only the English language was permitted 
to be used, except when the minister could not 
read English, in which case he was enjoined to 
use the Latin tongue. No attempt was made to 



THE PREPARATORY WORK. 15 

render the Bible or the Service Book into the 
vernacular of the people. Sir Henry Sydney, 
the Governor, writing to Queen Elizabeth, in 
1576, gives this sad picture of the religious con- 
dition of the country : "Your Majesty may be- 
lieve it, that upon the face of the earth, where 
Christ is professed, there is not a Church in so 
miserable a case : the misery of which consisteth 
in these three particulars the ruin of the very 
temples themselves ; the want of good mini- 
sters to serve in them when' they shall be re- 
edified ; and competent livings for the ministers 
when well chosen." Twenty years later, 
Spenser, the poet, gives even a more melancholy 
description of the state of religion throughout 
the entire country. But of all the four pro- 
vinces, the condition of Ulster seems to have 
been the saddest. For years together, divine 
service had not been performed in any parish 
church, except in some city or principal town. 

The close of Elizabeth's reign in Ireland was 
disturbed by frequent rebellions. Ulster was the 
chief seat of these unhappy commotions. The 
issue was, that the properties of some of the 
great chiefs were confiscated. These the queen 



16 THE ULSTER REVIVAL. 

made an effort to colonize \vith settlers from 
JEngland, but the project was not successful. 
When James ascended the throne of England 
he resolved to colonize Ulster on a large scale, 
from Scotland as well as England. The way 
seemed open, as the estates of the revolted Earls 
of Tyrone and Tyrconnel at this time reverting 
to the crown, the king had placed at his disposal 
not less than half-a-million acres of land in the 
northern province. To Sir Arthur Ohichester 
the direction of the scheme was entrusted, and 
much of the success of the Ulster Plantation is 
to be attributed to his skilful management. 
About 1610 the colonists had begun to occupy 
the confiscated lands. Scotland, from its vicinity 
to Ulster, and from the hardiness and enterprise 
of its people, furnished by far the largest share 
of the settlers. Fixing themselves in the north- 
eastern parts of the province, the Scotch gradu- 
ally spread themselves into the interior, while 
the English for the most part occupied the 
southern and western portions. There was no 
strife or discord among the strangers. And now 
what sudden change takes place over the face of 
the northern counties ! Ruined cities are re- 



THE PREPARATORY WORK. 17 

built and re-inhabited. Towns and villages 
spring up where there were none before. The 
tall woods fall before the axe of the industrious 
settler, and cleared fields wave with corn, or are 
clothed with flocks. The hovels of the natives 
disappear, and lordly castle, or fortified bawn, or 
snug farm-house, rises where they stood. Every- 
where the fruits that follow in the wake of 
industry are visible. Not more striking is the 
transformation going on in any of our colonies 
now, than that which took place in Down and 
Antrim, in Derry and Tyrone, when our hardy 
and thrifty forefathers took up their dwelling 
there in the reign of James. 

What was the religious character of the colo- 
nists ? Perhaps not worse than the character 
of our countrymen who are now colonizing the 
seaboard of Australia, or the mighty forests of 
Upper Canada. The men who go as the- pio- 
neers of civilization to any land, are men of 
strong nerve and enterprising minds, fitted thus 
for the work they have to accomplish ; but too 
often setting little price upon the means of grace, 
as they show by the course they pursue in leav- 
ing the vine and fig-tree of their fathers, allured 



18 THE ULSTER EEVIVAL. 

too often by golden visions, for a dwelling be- 
yond the reach of Gospel ordinances. There 
are, however, noble exceptions, for it is not the 
thirst of gold or the greed of gain that takes 
all our colonists away from the mother country. 
Many exceptions there were among the Ulster 
settlers. The picture drawn by Stewart, the son 
of one of the ministers who came over, is evi- 
dently a little over coloured. " From Scotland 
came many, and from England not a few, yet 
all of them generally the scum of both nations, 
who, from debt or breaking, or fleeing from 
justice, or seeking shelter, came hither hoping 
to be \vithout fear of man's justice, in a land 
where there was nothing, or but little as yet, of 
the fear of God. . . . Most of the people were 
all void of godliness, who seemed rather to flee 
from God in the enterprise than to follow their 
own mercy." Blair's sketch is dark enough, but 
is somewhat relieved. " Although among those 
whom Divine Providence did send to Ireland, 
there were several persons eminent for birth, 
education, and parts, yet the most part were 
such as either poverty, scandalous lives, or, at 
the best, adventurous seeking of better accom- 



THE PBEPAEATOEY WOEK. 19 

modation had forced thither, so that the security 
and thriving of religion was little seen to by 
those adventurers." 

Thus the way was prepared in Ireland for the 
work of grace soon to begin in Ulster. In all 
these rebellions anol confiscations in this ex- 
tensive and successful colonization we can 
trace the hand of God. 

Glance now at England. The Reformation, 
begun under Henry, carried on during the life of 
his promising son, arrested in its progress while 
the bloody Mary sat upon the throne, was 
firmly established as soon as Elizabeth began 
her reign. It was not, however, a thorough re- 
formation -it did not pluck up by the roots all 
the Popish errors. Many of the measures of 
the English Reformers, in the hope of concili- 
ating the Romanists, were only half measures a 
compromise that then, as ever, failed to satisfy. 
This is very powerfully put by Macaulay in the 
opening part of his history of England. From 
the very first there were two parties in the Re- 
formed Church of England: the one zealous 
for forms and ceremonies ; the other, of whom 
Hooper is the earliest representative, opposed 



20 THE ULSTER REVIVAL. 

to all forms and ceremonies not wholly sanc- 
tioned by the Word of God, and anxious for a 
reformation more thorough and complete. The 
dissatisfied and reforming party soon came to be 
called Puritans. Sadly were they persecuted 
throughout the' long reign of Elizabeth. Many 
of the most godly ministers in England were 
driven from their pulpits, because they would 
not conform to what they deemed unscriptural 
rites. But, as had often happened before in 
like cases, the more they were oppressed and 
persecuted, the more they grew. 

Elizabeth died on the 24th of March, 1 603, 
and in the month following, James was on his 
way to London to^take possession of the crown 
of England. Aa he journeyed south, the Puri- 
tan ministers met him on the way to state their 
grievances, naturally expecting sympathy from 
him on account of his Scottish birth and train- 
ing. They assured him " That they, to the 
number of more than a thousand ministers, 
groaned under the burden of human rites and 
ceremonies, and cast themselves at his majesty's 
feet for relief." Alas ! they sought relief in 
vain from James. ' Their hopes were utterly ex- 



THE PREPARATORY WORK. 21 

tinguished in the following year, when the king 
refused to hear their complaints in the Hampton 
Court Conference, and dismissed them with the 
ominous words, " I will make them conform, or 
I will harrie them out of the land." This was 
no vain threat. And now, while the Ulster 
Plantation is going on, let us see what is taking 
place among James's Puritan subjects in Eng- 
land. 

Unable to bear the yoke any longer, a 
goodly number of the suffering Puritans from 
the eastern shores of England take ship and 
cross over to Holland, bearing with them a 
learned and godly minister, named John Kobin- 
son. They settle, first at Amsterdam, but soon 
remove to Leyden; and at last, after a sojourn 
of twelve years in the latter place, the exiles re- 
solve to seek a home in the New World. A 
large body of them strike sail from Delph haven, 
on the 22nd July, 1620. What befel them 
afterwards how the party was divided, and 
some went back from the enterprise need not 
be told. A band of about one hundred, after 
much tossing, reached New England in the May 
Flower on the nth November, 1620 a day 



22 THE ULSTER REVIVAL. 

ever memorable ! Who could have foreseen the 
issue of that expedition ? . These Pilgrim 
Fathers were the founders of a great empire. 
In the fresh earth of the New World they 
planted those great principles of civil and reli- 
gious freedom which had found as yet an unge- 
uial soil in their own land. Long since the hand 
of God has been acknowledged in all this. Nor 
less is it seen in what was taking place at the 
same time in Ulster. There, while New Eng- 
land was affording a refuge to the Pilgrim 
Fathers, not a few of the persecuted Puritans 
sought and obtained a resting place. This 
again was God's way of preparing for the revival 
that was to follow. 

But turn now to Scotland. King James in 
the early part of his reign in Scotland, in the 
meeting of the General Assembly, had publicly 
praised God that he " was born in such a time, 
as in the time of the light of the Gospel, and in 
such a place as to be king in such a Kirk, the 
sincerest Kirk in the world." He had charged 
the assembled ministers, doctors, elders, nobles, 
gentlemen, and barons, to stand to then 1 purity ; 
" and I, forsooth," he concluded, " so long as I 



THE PREPARATORY WORK. 23 

brook my life and my crown, shall maintain the 
same against all deadly." Not long after, the 
king was labouring with all his might to rob 
this sineerest Kirk in the world of all her 
liberty and privilege. Some disguise was worn 
in Scotland, but this was entirely cast away as 
soon as he set foot in England. Then the 
Church which he had solemnly pledged himself 
in open Assembly to defend, he sought openly 
to destroy. The more prominent ministers who 
would not yield to his wishes, were banished or 
imprisoned. One of these was the celebrated 
John Welch, of Ayr. After a banishment of 
fourteen years, he was permitted, after much so- 
licitation, to return to London, his health having 
suffered so much that nothing but a return to 
his native country would, his physicians assured 
him, save his life. His wife, a daughter of 
John Knox, .obtained an interview with the 
king, and requested that her dying husband 
might be allowed to breathe once more the air of 
his native Scotland. His majesty, with coarse 
oaths, refused her request, unless she would un- 
dertake to persuade her husband to submit to the 
bishops. "Please your majesty," the noble 



24 THE ULSTER REVIVAL. 

daughter of a noble sire replied, lifting up her 
apron as if to receive her husband's falling head, 
"Please your majesty, I would rather kep his 
head there." While persecution was raging in 
Scotland, the Ulster Plantation was making ra- 
pid progress. Persecuted ministers fled to 
Ulster, where, for a time, they were permitted to 
enjoy security, and preach the Word without 
fear. Here again the hand of God is manifest. 
The settlement of persecuted ministers from 
Scotland in Ulster, is another part of His pre- 
paratory work for bringing about the revival of 
religion in the province. 

Such was the work of preparation for the re- 
vival. God can make the wrath of man even 
the persecution of kings to praise Him. 
Rulers, in the carrying out of their own schemes 
of lust or ambition, are all the while preparing 
the way for the coming of the'Lord. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE MEN PEOVEDED FOE THE WOEK. 

"I \vill give you pastors according to mine heart, which 
shall feed you with- knowledge and understanding." 
JEHEHIAH iii. 15. 

"The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Bamahas and Saul, 
for the work whereunto I have called them." ACTS xiii. 2. 

WHEN God has a work to do, the fitting men 
are always raised up. All the important eras in 
the history of the Church furnish illustration of 
this truth. And never was it more strikingly 
confirmed than in the Ulster revival. He who, 
in the early ages of the Church, " gave some 
apostles, and some prophets, and some evange- 
lists, and some pastors and teachers, for the per- 
fecting of the saints, for the work of the 
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ," 
sent at this time to Ulster a hand of men emi- 
nently endowed, and of singular devotedness 
men in every way fitted for the work given them 
to achieve. 

It may at first sight seem strange that perse- 
cution did not follow the exiled ministers to 
Ireland. But it is to be borne in mind that 



26 THE ULSTER REVIVAL. 

little was then known of Ireland at the seat of 
government. And as the historian has observed, 
" Provided they were removed out of England 
and Scotland, where they so frequently opposed 
his arbitrary measures, James cared little for 
their existence and influence in this remote and 
turbulent country." 

Of the ministers who came over, some were 
from England, but more from Scotland. The 
date of the arrival of the first was 1613, so that 
the settlers were for some years without faithful 
Gospel ministrations, as in ] 610 the plantation 
had made considerable progress. They were a 
little band whom God honoured to begin the 
revival only seven in number ; but when the 
work began, that little band was strengthened 
by the addition of nearly an equal number of 
faithful and laborious men, who entered with 
much zeal into the movement, and aided by their 
counsel, their preaching, and their prayers, to 
bring about the results that followed. It could 
hardly be said that the one sowed and the other 
reaped ; for as in those northern regions where 
the frost and snow have scarce passed away till 
the song of the reaper is heard as he gathers 



THE MEN PROVIDED FOR THE WORK. 27 

home the corn, so in Down aad Antrim now, 
the harvest followed fast upon the seedtime, and 
without enquiring who had sowed, all toiled in 
the same field, he that sowed and he that reaped 
rejoicing together. Of the first seven, five were 
from Scotland and two from England, while of 
. the others who joined them, all were from 
Sco.tland, excepting only one. It is not possible 
in a limited space to give a sketch of each, all 
we can do is to single out two or three as repre- 
sentatives of the rest. 

Of the Englishmen take John Ridge. He 
had been admitted to deacon's orders by the 
Bishop of Oxford in 1611, but having no free- 
dom for the exercise of his ministry in England 
without conformity, he came over to Ireland, and 
was admitted to the vicarage of Antrim on the 
7th of July, 1619, on the presentation of Lord 
Ohichester. Here he laboured with such wisdom 
and earnestness as to secure from a contempo- 
rary the character of "the judicious and gracious 
minister of Antrim." Another speaks of him as 
" a great urger of charitable works, and a very 
humble man." Hubbard and Colwert, his 
countrymen, were no less gracious or faithful. 



28 THE ULSTEK REVIVAL. 

Of the Scotchmen take Robert Blair and 
John Livingstone. Blair had been a professor 
or regent in the college of Glasgow, but being 
opposed to Dr. Cameron, the principal, who had 
been appointed with the view of bringing the 
college to approve of Prelacy, he threw up his 
chair, and on the invitation of Lord Clandeboy 
came over to Ireland in 1623. His own ac- 
count of his settlement at Bangor, in County 
Down the way in which his objections to the 
place were overcome his ordination by Mr. 
Cunningham of Holy wood, and the adjacent 
brethren, the bishop only taking part as a pres- 
byter, to meet his scruples against Episcopal 
ordination is' exceedingly interesting. His 
ministry was greatly blessed. One who knew 
iiim intimately, thus speaks of him, " He was a 
man of notable constitution both of body and 
mind, of a majestic, awful, yet affable and 
amiable countenance and carriage, thoroughly 
learned, of strong parts, deep invention, solid 
judgment, and of a most public spirit for God. 
His gift of preaching was such, that seldom 
could any observe withdrawing of assistance in 
public, which in others is frequent. He seldom 



THE MEN PKOVIDED FOR THE WORK. 29 

ever wanted assurance of his salvation. He 
spent many days and nights in prayer alone and 
with others, and was vouchsafed great intimacy 
with God." 

The revival had made considerable way when, 
in 1630, Livingstone settled at Killinchy, in 
County Down, and threw himself, with all his 
heart and soul, into the good work. He had 
been assistant to the minister of Torphichen, in 
Scotland, but was silenced by Spotiswood, Arch- 
bishop of St. Andrews, because of his opposi- 
tion to Prelacy. It was under his preaching 
that the remarkable awakening at the Kirk of 
Shotts occurred on the Monday after the com- 
munion, 21st June, 1630. At this time Living- 
stone was only twenty-seven years of age, and 
was acting as chaplain to the Countess of Wig- 
ton. Many ministers and people had collected 
for the communion season. On the Sabbath 
there was much solemnity, and when the Mon- 
day came, all felt reluctant to go away without 
a day of thanksgiving to Him whose dying 
love they had been commemorating. Living- 
stone was prevailed on to preach much against 
his will, from the deep sense he had of his own 



30 THE ULSTER REVIVAL. 

unworthiness. Indeed, he had even -withdrawn 
from the congregation to avoid the necessity of 
preaching, but was moved by a strong impulse 
upon his mind to return. The result is well 
known. " I can speak," says Fleming, " on sure 
ground, that nearly 500 had at that time a dis- 
cernible change wrought on them, of whom most 
proved lively Christians afterwards. It was 
the sowing of a seed through Clydesdale, so that 
many of the most eminent Christians of that 
country could date either their conversion, or 
some remarkable confirmation of their case 
from that day." Livingstone came to Ireland 
on the invitation of Lord Clandeboy. Like 
Blair, he objected to Episcopal ordination, and 
as in his case, so now he was set apart by the 
laying on of the hands of his brethren, the 
bishop only assisting. Coming from a work of 
revival in Scotland, his spirit quickened by what 
he had witnessed at the Kirk of Shotts, Living- 
stone was, in an especial manner, qualified to 
assist Eidge and Blair, Welsh and Dunbar, 
in the great movement God was then carrying 
on through their instrumentality. His arrival 
was most opportune. 



THE MEN PROVIDED FOR THE WORK. 31 

Thus the men whom God called from England 
and Scotland to begin or carry on His revival 
work in Ulster were eminently fitted for the task. 
Trained all of them in the school of affliction 
exiles like John in Patmos, " for the word of 
God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ" emi- 
nent, not a few of them, for gifts as well as 
graces,- it is manifest to all that they had been 
separated of the Holy Ghost for the work where- 
unto they were called. 

The position these ministers occupied was a 
singular one. They preached in the parish 
churches, and received the parish tithes; and 
yet they did not give up, the English their 
Puritanism, or the Sgotch their Presbyterianism. 
There was no compromise on their part. True, 
this state of things did not long continue. But 
when the bishops sought to enforce conformity, 
they were as ready to give up all emolument and 
submit to trial and banishment for the truth's 
sake in Ireland, as they had been in Scotland 
and England. But this comes not before us 
here. Brave men ! Their names are a rich in- 
heritance. Being dead they yet speak to us ! 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE WOKE ITSELF. 

" And I will make them and the places round ahout my 
hill a hlessing ; and I will cause the shower to come down 
in his season; there shall he showers of blessing." 
EZEKTEL xxxiv. 26. 

GOD often works by weak instruments, that the 
glory may be all His own. Of the ministers 
who had settled in Ulster, James Glendinning 
was the least gifted, yet God made use of him 
to begin the revival. Mr. Hubbard did not sur- 
vive long his removal to Carrickfergus with his 
London congregation, and on his death Glen- 
dinning was chosen to succeed him. His want 
of fitness for the place soon became evident J:o his 
brother ministers. Blair having occasion to visit 
Carrickfergus on some business, and hearing 
him preach occasionally, " perceived," to quote 
from Stewart, " some sparkles of good inclina- 
tion in him, yet found him not solid, but weak, 
and not fitted for a public place and among the 
English." Blair advised him to remove to 
some place in the country ; and when next we 



THE WORK ITSELF. 33 

hear of him he is fixed at Oldstone, near the 
town, of Antrim. "He was a man," Stewart 
tells us, " who would never have been chosen 
by a wise assembly of ministers, nor sent to be- 
gin a reformation in this land Yet 

this was the Lord's choice to begin with him 
the admirable work of God, which I mention 
on purpose that all men may see how the glory 
is only the Lord's, in making a holy nation in 
this profane land, arid that it was not by might, 
nor by power, nor by man's wisdom, but by my 
Spirit, saith the Lord." 

At Oldstone Glendinning preached the terrors 
of the law and G-od's hatred to sin, and so 
.alarmed a careless people that many were led to 
cry, "What must we do to be saved ?" Rich 
and poor were awakened. The work spread 
rapidly. All along the Six-Mile Water valley 
the cry of anxious sinners was heard. Crowds 
flocked to Oldstone to hear the Word ; still the 
minister preached only law terrors. He who 
had raised the storm was not able to allay it ; 
the preacher at whose bidding the waves of 
spiritual anxiety began to roll, knew not to pour 
the oil of Gospel grace upon the troubled 



'34 THE ULSTEK REVIVAL. 

waters. Like John the Baptist, his message 
was " Repent," and like him his office seems to 
have been to prepare men for the kingdom of 
God, not to lead them into it. Let us not de- 
spise the man or his work. The ploughshare 
deals rather rudely with the fallow ground, but 
do we reject it on this account ? The hewer in 
the marble quarry inflicts heavy blows upon the 
rough unshapen block, but this treatment is 
necessary to prepare it for the chisel even of a 
Phidias. At the same time let us see how, in 
the gifts of the other ministers, God more than 
supplied what was wanting in Glendinning. 

The neighbouring ministers were soon made 
aware of the work that was going on. Indeed, 
the excitement had spread to their parishes. 
They at once came to the help of Glendinning, 
and by skilfully directing the wounded to the 
great Physician, many found peace. Soon 
hope and joy took the place of fear and tor- 
ment. Meetings for prayer were multiplied, 
they who were walking in the light desiring to 
have fellowship one with another. In this way, 
the Monthly Meetings at Antrim originated, 
that place becoming the centre of the move- 



THE WORK ITSELF. 35 

ment. Ridge, the minister of Antrim, "per- 
.ceiving," says Blair, "many people on both 
sides of the Six-Mile Water awakened out of 
their security, made an overture that a monthly 
meeting might be set up at Antrim, which was 
within a mile of Oldstone, and lay centrical for 
the awakened persons to -resort to, and he in- 
vited Mr. Cunningham of Holywood, Mr. 
Hamilton of Killyleagh, and myself to take 
part in that work, who were all glad of the mo- 
tion, and heartily embraced it." This was 
about the year 1626. It was not the common 
people only who were at this time brought 
under the power of the truth. " It pleased the 
Lord," Stewart records, "to visit mercifully the 
honourable family in Antrim, so as Sir John 
Clotworthy, and my lady, his mother, and his 
own precious lady, did shine in an eminent 
manner in receiving the Gospel, and offering 
themselves to the Lord, whose example instantly 
other gentlemen followed, such as Captain Norton 
and others, of whom the Gospel made a clear 
and cleanly conquest." 

The account of the origin of the Monthly 
Meetings, as given by Stewart, is the following : 



36 THE ULSTER REVIVAL. 

" When, therefore, the multitude of wounded 
consciences were healed, they hegan to draw into- 
holy communion and meeting together privately 
for edification, a thing which, in a lifeless gene- 
ration, is hoth neglected and reproved. But the 
new life forced it among the people, who desired 
to know what God was doing with the souls of 
their neighbours, who, they perceived, were 
wrought on in spirit as they had heen. There 
was a man in the parish of Oldstone, called 
Hugh Campbell, who had fled from Scotland ; 
him God caught in Ireland, and made him an 
exemplary Christian until this day. He was a 
g'entleman of the house of Duket Hall. After 
this man was healed of the wound given to his 
soul by the Almighty, he became very refreshful 
to others who had less learning and judgment 
than himself. He therefore invited some of his 
honest neighbours, who fought the same fight 
of faith, to meet him at his house on the last 
Friday of the month, when and where, begin- 
ning with a few, they spent their time in prayer, 
mutual edification, and conference on what they 
found within them. Nothing like the superfi- 
cial, superfluous meetings of some cold-hearted 



THE WORK ITSELF. 37 

professors, who afterwards made this work a 
snare to many. But these new beginners were 
more filled with heart exercise than head no- 
tions, and with fervent prayer rather than conceity 
gifts to fill the head. As these truly increased, 
so did this meeting for private edification in- 
crease too ; and still at Hugh Campbell's house 
on. the last Friday of the month. At last they 
grew so numerous, that the ministers who had 
begotten them again to Christ, thought fit that 
some of them should be still with them to pre- 
vent what hurt might follow." 

While Antrim was the centre of the work, it 
was not confined to it, but extended into the 
adjoining'parishes, spreading over a considerable 
portion of the north-east of -Ulster. The con- 
gregation of Larne, under the faithful ministry of 
George Dunbar, shared largely in the awaken- 
ing. In Bangor, also, as Blair has himself 
recorded, "The knowledge of God increasing 
among that people, and the ordinance of prayer 
being precious in their eyes, the work of the 
Lord did prosper in the place." At Killinchy, 
Livingstone was for a time discouraged, for, as 
he tells us, "although the people were very 



38 THE ULSTER REVIVAL. 

tractable, yet they were generally very ignorant/ 
and I saw no appearance of doing any good 
among them ; yet it pleased the Lord that in a 
short time some of them began to understand 
somewhat of their condition." 

The work of God went on for years without 
any abatement of interest. Monthly, there was 
the meeting of all who could attend at the 
rallying point, Antrim. We give at length the 
record of these meetings as furnished by 
Livingstone : " We used ordinarily to meet the 
first Friday of every month, at Antrim, where 
was a great and good congregation; and that 
day was spent in fasting and prayer, and public 
preaching. Commonly two preached every fore- 
noon, and two in 'the afternoon. We used to 
come together the Thursday's night before, 
and stayed the Friday's night after, and con- 
sulted about such things as concerned the 
carrying on of the Work of God ; and these 
meetings among ourselves were sometimes as 
profitable as either Presbyteries or Synods. 
Such as laid religion to heart, used to convene 
to these meetings, especially out of the Six-mile- 
Water valley, which was nearest hand, and 



THE WORK ITSELF. * 39 

where -was the greatest number of religious 
people: and frequently the Sabbath after the 
Friday's meeting, the communion was celebrated 
in one or other of our parishes. Among all the 
ministers, there was never any jar or jealousy ; 
yea, nor amongst the professors, the greatest 
part of them being Scots, and some good 
number of very gracious English; all whose 
contention was to prefer others to themselves. 
And although the gifts of the ministers were 
much different, yet it was not observed that the 
people followed any to the undervaluing of 
others. Many of these religious professors had 
been both ignorant and profane, and for debt 
and want, and worse causes, had left Scotland. 
Yet the Lord was pleased by His Word to work 
such a change, that I do not think there were 
more lively and experienced Christians anywhere 
than were at this time in Ireland. They were 
in good numbers, and several of these persons 
in good outward condition in the world. Being 
but lately brought in, the lively edge was not 
yet gone off them, and the perpetual fear that 
the bishops would put away their ministers, 



40 THE ULSTER REVIVAL. 

made them with great hunger wait on the 
ordinances. I have known them come several 
miles from their own houses to communions, to 
the Saturday's sermon, and spending the whole 
Saturday's night in several companies, some- 
times a minister being with them, and sometimes 
themselves alone, in conference and prayer. 
They have then waited on the public ordinances 
the whole Sabbath, and spent the Sabbath 
night in the same way, and yet at the Monday's 
sermon were not troubled with sleepiness ; and 
so they have not slept till they went home. In 
those days it was no great difficulty for a 
minister to preach or pray in public or private, 
such was the hunger of the hearers, and it was 
hard to judge whether there was more of the 
Lord's presence in the public or private 
meetings." 

Blair's testimony is to the same effect " The 
blessed work of conversion, which was of several 
years' continuance, spread beyond the bounds 
of Antrim and Down, to the skirts of neigh- 
bouring counties ; and the resort of people to 
the Monthly Meetings, and communion occa- 



THE WOKK ITSELF. 41 

sions, and the appetite of the people were . 
become so great, that we were sometimes con- 
strained in sympathy to them, to venture beyond 
any preparation we had made for the occasion. 
And indeed, preaching and praying were so 
pleasant in those days, and hearers so eager and 
greedy, that no day was long enough, nor any 
room large enough, to answer their strong 
desires and large expectations." 

The work attracted considerable notice. 
Fleming, an independent witness, in his Ful- 
filling of Scripture, more than confirms the 
testimony of Blair and Livingstone. " I shall 
here instance," he writes, " that great and solemn 
work of God which was in the Church of 
Ireland some years before the fall of prelacy, 
about the year 1628, and some years thereafter, 
which, as many grave and solid Christians yet 
alive can witness, who were there present, was a 
bright and hot sun-blink of the Gospel ; yea, 
may with sobriety be said to have been one of 
the largest manifestations of the Spirit, and of 
the most solemn times of the downpouring 
thereof, that almost since the clays of the 



42 THE ULSTER EEVTVAL. 

apostles hath, been seen. I remember, amongst 
other passages, what a worthy Christian told me, 
how sometimes in hearing the word such a 
power and evidence of the Lord's presence was 
with it, that he hath been forced to rise and loot 
through the church, and see what the people 
were doing, thinking from what he felt on his 
own spirit, it was a wonder how any could go 
away without some change upon them. And 
then it was sweet and easy for Christians to 
come thirty or forty miles to the solemn com- 
munions which they had, and there continue 
from the time they came until they returned, 
without wearying or making use of sleep ; yea, 
but little either meat or drink, and, as some of 
them professed, did not feel the need thereof, 
but went away most fresh and vigorous, their 
souls so filled with the sense of God." 

Such was the revival granted to our fathers 
when God brought them to this land. It was a 
great work, not confined to one parish, but 
bringing under its influence a goodly portion of 
Ulster. It was no evanescent movement, pro- 
ducing a temporary excitement, and then dying 



THE WORK ITSELF. 43 

away, leaving no traces behind. It extended 
over a series of years, and its fruits were soon 
visible. 

" God, what time thou didst go forth, 

Before thy people's face : 
And when through the great wilderness, 
Thy glorious marching was. 



God, thou to thine heritage 

Didst send a plenteous rain, 
Whereby thou, when it weary was, 

Didst it refresh again." 



CHAPTER V. 

THE ISSUES AND LESSONS OF THE WORK. 

"And generations yet unborn, 
Shall praise and magnify the Lord." 

FSAT.M cii. 18. 

THE Ulster Revival rooted the truth in the 
northern province rooted it securely. A storm 
was gathering that was to try it sorely. When 
the tempest swept in fury around it, safely it 
weathered the storm. Had the time of trial 
come before, instead of after, the revival had 
the bishops enforced conformity at first, or had 
the terrible massacre happened twenty years 
sooner, very different would have been the 
results. It is a living, not a lifeless church that 
will stand the fires of persecution. It is only 
men who have felt the power of the truth who 
will suffer for the truth's sake. When the 
massacre was over, the condition of the church 
in Ulster was gloomy enough. But, as the wide- 
spread cedar, that seems almost crushed to the 
earth when the snow storm has fallen, shakes off 
its load, and with a bound assumes its former 



THE ISSUE AND LESSONS OF THE WORK. 45 

position, -when the first breath of spring has 
blown upon it ; so that church stood up more 
vigorous than before, when once the gloomy 
night of popish fury had passed by. 

The fruits of the revival are still seen in 
Ulster. That province is the coldest and bleak- 
est in Ireland. Yet how immeasurably superior 
it is in every thing to Connaught, or Munster, 
or even Leinster ! We are not insensible to the 
shortcomings of the descendants of the good 
men whom G-od so blessed and honoured, now 
more than two centuries ago. We are not 
forgetful of departure from the faith on the part 
of many ; nor of the coldness and deadness of 
multitudes whose creed is orthodox, and whose 
forms of worship are scriptural. There is much 
in the past to mourn over, much in the present 
we would fain have otherwise. But, when we 
look at the superior tillage of Ulster, its 
thriving towns and villages, its busy seats of 
manufacture ; when we think of the loyalty of 
the large masses of its population, the industry 
of its middle and lower classes, and the integrity 
of its merchants and men of business, we cannot 
help ascribing much of that which has given 



46 THE ULSTER EEVIVAL. 

this province such a proud pre-eminence, to 
the 'labours of Blair and Livingstone, and their 
brethren, and to the remarkable blessing that 
attended their efforts. We are now reaping 
what they sowed sowed often in tears. As yet 
the results of their work have .told mainly upon 
Ulster. But we are firmly persuaded they are 
yet to extend a mighty influence on the whole 
land, over all its length and breadth. 

The record of this revival is the most instruc- 
tive, chapter in the history of Presbyterianism in 
Ireland. Would that we could read the lessons 
it is fitted to teach ! We have a great work to 
do in Ireland does it not tell us how we can 
best accomplish that work how success is to be 
attained ? In outward organization we were 
never in so prosperous a condition as now. We 
are united. No false doctrine is preached in 
any of our pulpits. Everywhere, in every good 
work, how much zeal is displayed ! At home 
what doors of usefulness are opening up ! In 
the Colonial field, and in the Foreign and 
Jewish Mission fields, there are far more calls 
for help than we are able to respond to. When 
had we such reason to look with hopeful eye 



THE ISSUES AND LESSONS OP THE WORK. 47 

into the future ? Never ! And if our organiza- 
tion is prosperous, the scripturality of our 
system too, was at no former period more firmly 
believed in by our people. Not only are we 
assured of its derivation from the Word of God, 
but we are experiencing more and more every 
day, how admirably fitted it is to advance the 
kingdom of God in any land, or among any 
people. In all this we rejoice ; for have we not 
reason to rejoice ? 

Yet here a danger threatens. We may be 
tempted to trust in the completeness of our 
organization, and the scripturality of our system. 
We may forget that in the building of the Lord's 
spiritual house, church polity is but the scaffold- 
ing, and is only useful as it enables the builders 
to raise the walls of the glorious structure that 
it is only the casket for preserving the priceless 
jewel of divine truth in the world. And our 
forms of worship are only the censer in which 
the incense of the heart pure spiritual worship 
is to be offered to God. We yield to none in 
our attachment to Presbyterian order and wor- 
ship, but, God forbid that we should give them 



48 THE ULSTER REVIVAL. 

a place and an importance they were never 
designed to hold ! Whenever we are tempted to 
do this, how strong soever we may appear to 
ourselves or others, God has written Ichabod 
upon us, and we are truly impotent for good. 

If then we would achieve great things, we 
must be anointed with the oil of heavenly grace 
baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire. 
Wanting this preparation, we labour in vain, 
and spend our strength for nought. Hitherto 
effort has not been rewarded with proportionate 
success. Why ? The presence of the life-giving 
spirit has been withheld. A bright future is 
before us. That we may not fail in our high 
mission in this land, let us seek another revival. 
If other churches labour more earnestly, mani- 
fest more of the Spirit of Christ, seek with 
greater purity of aim to promote, not their own 
glory, but the glory of God, they will surely 
outstrip us in the race ; and why should they 
not ? It is true of churches as of individuals 
" Them that honour God He will honour. 5 ' It 
is a living, earnest, humble church God will 
bless. And, O with what power we would assail 



THE ISSUES AND LESSONS OF THE WORK. 49 

the stronghold of antichrist in our land, if a 
time of refreshing were granted us from on high ! 
Are we not encouraged to plead with God for 
a revival of His work among us ? We can urge 
His promises, but we can urge too His dealings 
with our fathers. We can cry, " Wilt thou not 
revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in 
thee ?" 



WHEN GOD WOULD PLANT OUR GOODLY 

VINE. 



WHEN God would plant our goodly vine within this 
land, of yore, 

A place where deep its roots might strike He had pre- 
pared before ; 

The vine degenerate and wild with fire He did con- 
sume, 

That, cast away, our chosen shoot might grow and fill 
its room. 

It was a small and tender plant, that had been trampled 
sore 

Beneath the feet of cruel men, when carried to our 
shore ; 

But, cherished by the Lord of Hosts, and tended by 
His hand, >.. 

Its boughs were yet to spread abroad and covef'all the 
land ! 



WHEN GOD WOULD PLANT OUK GOODLY VINE. 51 

When God would plant our goodly vine within this 

land, of yore, 
A people suffering for the truth He guided to our 

shore : 
From Scotland's rugged land they came, a stern and 

stalwart race ; 
They came from England's clime, less used danger and 

toil to face. 
Where Eeagh and Strangford wide expand, by Carrick's 

castled town, 
Where Foyle and Lagan ebb and flow,- the pilgrims 

sate them down. 
And through long years of struggle sore, as erst their 

fathers prayed, 
They joyed that they were free to pray, with none to 

make afraid ! 

When God would plant our goodly vine within this 
land, of yore, 

A band of exiled ministers, brave men, He hither 
bore; 

Dunbar and Stewart, Robert Blair, in sacred lore who 
shone, 

James Hamilton of noble blood, and honoured Living- 
stone, 



52 THE ULSTER REVIVAL. 

And Brice, and holy Cunningham, and Welsh from 

Scotland eame . . 

While Henry Colvert, Hubbard, Eidge did bear an 

English name. 
Long ages past these valiant men have gained the 

crown on high, 
But though long dead, their work remains their 

work will never die ! 



When God would plant our goodly vine within this " 

land, of yore, 
His Spirit in a mighty flood from Heaven He did 

outpour ; 
And where the Six-Mile Water flows, o'er many a 

thirsty soul, 
As streams in South recalled, He made the swelling 

torrent roll. 
And whereso'er the Word was preached in all the 

country wide, 

The outpoured Spirit swept along in a resistless tide. 
Oh ! 't was a time when opened were windows in 

highest heaven 
A foretaste of the promised time to earth shall yet be 

given ! 



WHEN GOD WOULD PLANT OUR GOODLY VINE. 53 

When- God would plant our goodly vine within this 
land, of yore, 

While yet its years were few, he bade the tempest 
round it roar. 

Prelatic persecution raged its slender boughs among, 

And Popish wrath in massacre swept furiously along. 

But lake the stately cedar on the brow of Lebanon, 

Its roots more firmly clasped the rock, when past the 
storm had gone. 

Since then, though ofbtimes it hath heard the tem- 
pest's wild uproar, 

Unscathed it stands, safe kept by Him who planted it 
of yore ! 

M. K. 



Just Published, 64pp. Grown 8vo, Price 6d. 

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Prepared by the Young Men's Christian Association, 
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"The present narrative is intensely interesting, and the excellent 
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value. To the Churches of tbis'country this record of American Eevival 
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" A truly marvellous, "but perfectly authenticated narrative. This little 
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Belfast : C. AITCHISON. 9, High Street. 



tn 

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UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO